Bush was a career farmer, owning a mixed farm at
Heywood,
Wiltshire. He was appointed a
Justice of the Peace for Wiltshire in 1980 and as a
Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire in 1998. Bush served as Chairman of the Bristol Avon Flood Defences Committee from 1981 to 2000 and was a Governor of
Lackham College between 1986 and 1998. and was appointed a
Deputy Lieutenant of the county in 1998. He served as Chairman of the Wiltshire
Magistrates' Courts Committee from 2001 to 2005. He retired in 2012, at the age of seventy-five, to be succeeded by
Sarah Rose Troughton, a cousin of the Queen. As Lord Lieutenant, he was also
custos rotulorum, and his public duties included overseeing the arrangements for visits to Wiltshire by members of the royal family, representing the Queen at local events, such as presenting awards and medals on her behalf, liaising with the Wiltshire units of the
Royal Navy,
Army, and
Air Force; leading the local
magistracy as Chairman of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on
Justices of the Peace; and advising on nominations for
national honours. Bush was Patron of the Community Foundation for Wiltshire and Swindon, Chairman of Fredericks Wiltshire, and a Trustee of the Devizes Assize Courts Trust. He chaired the
Wiltshire Historic Buildings Trust and the Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust and was president of the Salisbury and South Wiltshire branch of the
English Speaking Union. ==Honours==